Most vehicles that have an interior compartment (sometimes referred to as a passenger compartment) provide some form of heating and/or ventilation for the person(s) traveling inside the vehicle. For example, a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system is sometimes provided.
Some HVAC systems are designed to provide multi-zone climate control. For example, different heating (or cooling) settings can be made for the driver and front-seat passenger, respectively. Climate settings can sometimes be differentiated between the respective rows of seating in the vehicle, for examples to provide second-row (or third-row) passengers increased control over the temperature or other climate aspects in their respective area.
Differentiated temperature settings can pose particular challenges for HVAC equipment. For example, some systems have electric heating rods that traverse the respective conduits for different climate zones, and the differentiated temperature settings are then metered by restricting (or blocking) the air flow in one of the conduits (i.e., the one with the cooler setting). However, the heat rod(s) that the system energizes to provide heat for the conduit with the hotter setting can overheat due to the lack of air flow.